Dear students, faculty members, and parents,
Good morning!
Today, we are pleased to welcome 13,390 freshmen of 2020 from all around the world to Tongji University. With your arrival, this campus with its 113-year history will be endowed with more impetus and vitality. This year, you have witnessed a really tough period with the challenges of both the pandemic and college entrance examinations. But I now should say you have all done a great job with your courage and hard work, and have grown to become stronger and more confident people after such special experience.
The Live of the 2020 Opening Ceremony
Congratulations to all of you, as you have gathered at Tongji in the best years of your life and will start a new chapter soon. On behalf of our Party Secretary FANG Shouen and all students and faculty members at the University, I would like to extend my warmest welcome to all of you, and my sincere greetings to your families and teachers that had accompanied you along the way!
You may have to say goodbye to your parents at the gate under the rules of pandemic prevention; but then you have our faculty members and student volunteers wearing red caps that took your luggage and guided you onto this brilliant campus. Those lovely “Red Caps” include WANG Ye, a Tongji Alumni who has participated in volunteer work for 11 years, and students like Alimjan·Campbell who handled luggage for newcomers for six days. I would also like to express my heartfelt thanks to all our faculty members and student volunteers here.
Now, you are the fresh blood of this University, bringing us hope and vitality. This year, we have YANG Cheng from Jiangsu province, whom has dreamed of becoming an architect from an early age, entered Tongji with the excellent entrance examination grade ranked 10th (liberal art) in the province, twin sisters ZHOU Shiyi and ZHOU Shixuan from Shanghai, who have both been recruited with only one point apart, ZHANG Mengmeng, a graduate student of School of Medicine, who chose to become the 8446th hematopoietic stem cell donor in China and brought life hope to others, XU Haowen, a graduate student of College of Architecture and Urban Planning, whom has won the First Price of the Challenge Cup as an undergraduate with his academic work on “promoting rural development with industrial revitalization,” WANG Heng, a 20 year-old PhD student of the School of Life Sciences and Technology, who is the youngest PhD student enrolled this year. I sincerely welcome all of you as new Tongji people, and hope you present your own talent here.
President CHEN on Speech
Tongji University can be traced back to the German Medical School (Deutsche Medizinschule für Chinesen in Shanghai) which was established in 1907 with the support of Chinese and German governments, as well as all walks of life. And its Chinese name was set the next year. It started offering Engineering courses since 1912, and took the name of “Tongji University” in 1923. In 1927, it became one of the first national universities in China. During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Tongji moved to six locations in nine provinces, but never changed her name or give up her essence of education. Continuing scientific research during turbulent ages, taking construction tasks when the nation was in ruins, and standing up to the reform and opening up, Tongji has always fulfilled her commitment to the nation and society over its past 113 years. On the centennial ceremony of the University, President XI Jinping, then Secretary of Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, pointed out the past 100 years of Tongji was a century of sharing weal and woe with the fate of the Chinese nation, a century of holding hands with Chinese scientific and educational growth, and a century of being closely related to Shanghai’s urban development. It was not only the incisive summary of Tongji’s history, but also a guidance and expectation for its future development.
Now, the baton of accelerating the construction of Tongji in making it a world-class university with Chinese characteristics has been passed on to you, which is both your opportunity and responsibility. I hope for you to understand “We are of the same mind and boat, benefiting people and benefiting the world” -- the motto of Tongji --- in your future study and life here, and hope you will grow to a better person with ideals, determination, knowledge, courage, and sense of duty and dedication, so as to make Tongji a better university. Here, I would like to further explain my expectations to you.
First, I hope you will find your goals and always stick to them. You may take Tongji as your destination in the past, but you should now regard it as a new start. On this campus, you will learn and understand the special Tongji spirit of stems from the idea of “improving with the nation and making a better world with science and education”. You will be enlightened spiritually by the earnest teaching from masters. You will gain precious friendships with those outstanding peers you meet here. You will have vast opportunities of learning, research, and practice. All in all, Tongji provides you with the platform as big as your dream is. But first, you should set a new goal as your guidance and impetus for your new life. It may stem from the pursuit of truth and humanity in your deep heart and requires your perseverance and willpower. As the traditional Chinese poem goes: “It's strong and firm though struck and beaten without rest, careless of the wind from north or south, east or west.” As part of the Chinese young generation, you are expected to integrate your future into the destiny of this nation, to facilitate China’s development with your own achievements.
The Enrolling Day
Second, I hope for you to learn much knowledge and have the courage to put it into practice. It is your core mission to receive systematic education during your college years, which is also the best period in your whole life to do so. You are growing with the constant developments of science and technology, continuous expansion of knowledge boundaries, and higher requirements for innovation. And thus, it is necessary for you to form your comprehensive knowledge system in terms of natural science, social science, and humanities, as well as keeping a watchful eye on the frontier of the disciplines. Besides classroom education, you can also absorb knowledge through extensive reading, asking, and thinking, to bring all knowledge together and understand thoroughly. It will then be time to apply what you have learned -- to criticize previous ideas and bring forth your own. Just as Karl Heinrich Marx said, “There is no smooth road to science. Only those fearless climbers who do not fear difficulties and hardships along the road can obtain chances to reach its extreme summit.” Focus on pursuing excellence and make it with your knowledge and courage.
Third, I hope you to develop your sense of responsibility. The core mission of a university is to produce talents continuously for national development through a first-class education and, as the cradle of innovative thinking and capability, it is also our duty to undertake the responsibility of cultural inheritance, facing the difficulties in national economic, social, scientific and technological developments that urgently need breakthroughs with innovation and creation. As the carrier of the Tongji spirit, you are expected not only to learn book knowledge, but also to observe the world through your own eyes. All the problems you find in books, daily life, and practices are worth thinking about or being a topic of your research. Instead of being “empty talkers,” I hope all of you will stand up and take action. More specifically, concentrate on your own research fields and be "doers" who bravely climb the academic peak. Moreover, try to integrate yourself into the development of this nation realizing your own ideals while drawing the grand blueprint of national development with your wisdom.
Oath at The Scene
Finally, I hope you could have a beauty quotient and awareness of dedication. In your future years at Tongji, you will understand the beauty of architecture, science, and humanity gradually on this campus through various books and classes, to cultivate better tastes and virtues. I hope for you to be sensitive and open-minded to beauty, whether it be natural or scientific, and then explore and pursue it with your knowledge. It is a start to reveal the infinite mysteries of our universe, to discover the essential laws of science and technology, to construct your motherland, and to live your entire life with a broad mind. Standing at the new start of your beautiful life, it is your duty to care for your nation and people to make a brighter future with your golden heart.
My dear students, you are now going to start your brand-new university life. I hope you will cherish this precious period, improve yourself into becoming a social pillar and professional with ideals, determination, ability, and courage, to make lasting contributions to our national rejuvenation!
Thank you!
Source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/nILwGukxokkMtX1dGNJ4xw
